What do we mean by “missing children”?

1. Runaways (national/international)

Minors who run away from home, from the institution where they have been placed, or from the people responsible for their care.

2. National or international parental abduction

Parental abductions are cases where a child is taken to or kept in a country or place other than that of his/her normal residence by one or more parents or persons with parental authority, against another parent’s will or against the will of the person with parental authority.

3. Missing unaccompanied migrants minors

Disappearances of migrant children, nationals of a country in which there is no free movement of persons, under the age of 18 who have been separated from both parents and are not being cared for by an adult, who by law is responsible for doing so.

4. Abduction by a third person

Abduction of minors by anyone other than the parents or the persons with parental authority.

5. Lost, injured or otherwise missing children

Disappearances for no apparent reason of minors who got lost (e.g. little children at the seaside in summer) or hurt themselves and cannot be found immediately (e.g. accidents during sport activities, at youth camps, etc.), as well as children whose reason for disappearing has not yet been determined.